And Here's What You Missed on...GLEE

The next day came far too quickly. Grayson had slept well, so that meant that I got a good night’s sleep, too. Unfortunately, that meant that the morning came faster, which meant that I had to go back to school and face Puck.

Thank God it was Friday.

“Did you hear?” a girl from my left giggled in her friend’s ear. When I turned to see who it was, they both averted their gaze to the ground and kept walking.

It took me a second to realize that they were talking about…me. What the hell could they be saying about me? I didn’t even do anything.

“Hey,” I started, sitting in a seat behind Finn in biology, “do you know what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, but it was clear that he was being hesitant in talking to me. My stomach instantly clenched. Puck definitely did something. I was going to slit his friggin’ throat.

“What did you hear? What the hell is everyone talking about?”

“What do you mean…?” he answered, not wanting to tell me the truth. He spun slightly in his seat so that he could see me a little better and got an eyeful of my face: serious and down-to-business.

“Well, there’s some rumor going around that…you use the guys’ bathroom because you have a…ya know.” His face turned slightly red at having to tell me that, and he seemed more uncomfortable than ever.

My jaw dropped, my heart beating a thousand times a minute. Something told me that was what it felt like before having a heart attack. “And who told you this?” I demanded through clenched teeth.

“Um, just…a friend…” he trailed off awkwardly.

Sitting back, I clenched my fists. I hated him. So much. There was nothing but detest coursing through my veins.

How could he have done that to me?! All I did was say that I didn’t want to go out with him. It’s not like he would have wanted to talk to me or anything, have a real relationship, anyway. He would just use me for sex, which I wouldn’t give to him, and then he’d move on. That was just how he was with girls. The whole school knew it, and so did I.

More than anything, I wanted to get up from my seat and go find Puck right then. Unfortunately, I didn’t want to get put down for cutting class, so I was stuck in my seat.

The teacher started going on about something, so I took out my notebook to take some notes.

After writing two or so, I lost interest and started doodling in the margins. Puck getting shish-kabobbed by an old-time Native American shooting bow and arrows. Puck being pushed off the Empire State Building by King Kong. Puck having his head punched off by a boxer. Puck getting devoured by a shark.

“Die, die die,” I hissed, stabbing the picture of him with his cocky grin with my sharp pencil. Mark after mark penetrated his paper skin, and it actually made me feel a little better.

“Ellie? Is there a problem?” my teacher wondered with a confused look on her face.

Feeling my face burn, I hurried to cover my little moment of heated anger. “Um…No. I was just…testing how resistant my pencil was to breaking.” I jabbed my notebook a couple of times and pretended to observe the still-intact end. “Looks pretty good to me!”

“Well, let’s try to keep your methods a little quieter, hm?” she questioned, taking a deep breath and rolling her eyes. She acted like she’d never had a slightly crazy and extremely angry student before.

For the duration of the day, I had to endure stares and whispers, laughs and taunts. A few times, I almost said something, but remembered that I didn’t want to start anything. Like I needed more attention than I was already getting.

It wasn’t until the end of the day, on my way to Glee, that I saw Puck. He was talking to one of his football buddies that I didn’t know the name of, his smile almost seeming to taunt me. Did he have no qualms about what he was doing to me?

On an act of impulse, I hurried over to him and shoved him into a locker. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I screamed at him.

The other football player started laughing hysterically at my greeting, but I shot him a look. “You can leave now,” I informed with venom seeping into my words.

It didn’t take more than that to make him hurry down the hallway, muttering some excuse about being late to practice.

“What is your problem?” he snapped, fixing his backpack.

“Oh, gee, I WONDER!” My voice echoed in the empty hallway, so I lowered it a little, just making the anger in my voice more potent. “Could it be that you spread a rumor to the whole school that I have a dick?!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You’re not fooling me. I know that you did it. Just because I didn’t accept your apology, you tell everyone I have a dick.”

“I didn’t…I didn’t do that.”

“Yeah, you did. You’re the only person who saw me come out of the boys’ bathroom all that time ago. So you spread a rumor to get back at me. Everywhere I go, people are whispering and pointing and laughing. You wanted to ruin my life? Mission accomplished.”

“Ellie, I’m telling you, it wasn’t-”

“Save it.” Shaking my head, I turned and walked out of the building, completely ditching Glee Club completely.

* * *

“Ellie!” Grayson cried as I walked through the door. There were tear stains down his chubby face, and his nose was running.

“Holy God,” I mumbled. “What happened?”

He didn’t answer, instead just rubbing his face into my neck and sniffling with wavered breaths.

“Is anyone home?” I called out. There wasn’t an answer.

Adrenaline running through my veins, I went to check the garage. No cars.

“Are you kidding me?!” I hissed, hurrying around the house. Why in the world would anyone in their right mind leave a toddler ALONE? Even if it was only for five minutes, you don’t leave a toddler home alone. Ever.

A minute later, I found the phone and dialed my mother’s work number. “I’m so sorry,” I heard her apologize to a client as she picked up the phone. “What, Ellie?”

“What? Are you serious? What the hell were you thinking, leaving Grayson home alone? What if I had gone to Glee Club? He could have been seriously hurt!”

“I knew you were going to be home soon, so I just figured…”

“What is wrong with you? Did you raise me like this?”

“Well, I had your father’s help with you…and I really needed to get to work. What was I going to do? Bring him with me?”

“That would be better than leaving him here alone!”

Before she could answer me, I hung up the phone. Grayson was crying again, the sounds of my yell scaring him.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled soothingly in his ear. So many things seemed to be going wrong, no matter what I did.

Soon enough, Gray fell asleep in my arms, and I brought him up the stairs slowly and carefully, being cautious not to wake him. Gently, I laid him down on my bed and tucked him under a couple of blankets. He squirmed a little, getting a comfortable position, before his breathing became deep and rhythmic again.

I sat on the floor with my back against the bureau, thinking about the day. Thinking back to it, I felt badly about skipping Glee, but I was glad that I had. Who knew what would have happened to Grayson if I hadn’t? I was just lucky that I got there when I did.

A couple of times, I hit the back of my head against the solid furniture behind me, sending the things on top rattling.

Things really needed to start getting better. Soon.